fiction

With his partner, Kane, his best fiend, Damien, and his band and extended family by his side, Miki St. John faces an enigmatic killer. His happy ending is within reach... but first he must deal with the evils lurking in his past.

Mouse works in the scullery at Dunston Manor, peeling onions, stirring the pots, sweeping the floors, and doing her best not to get into trouble with the fractious cook. Alone at night in the dark corner she calls home, she wishes for something wondrous to happen and dreams of a better life. But what chance does she have, a girl born with nothing, not even a proper name? Then Mouse sees a puppet play and knows at once what she must do. Somehow she must learn to make the puppets dance. Somehow she must become the puppeteer's apprentice. But the puppeteer is harboring some uncomfortable secrets, and Mouse doesn't know whether she has the courage it takes to fulfill her dreams. How Mouse finds her place in the world, and a very special name, is the heart of this thoroughly absorbing and remarkable story set in medieval England.

Russell Findlay spent decades taking on the most dangerous men in Scotland's criminal underworld. Organised crime clans such as the Daniels, Lyons and McGoverns were unmasked by Findlay and his colleagues at the Sunday Mail and Scottish Sun. Also targeted were figures such as Paul Ferris, Frankie 'Donuts' Donaldson, Barry Hughes, James 'Jasper' McCann and Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll.Two days before Christmas 2015, Findlay became the target of an unprecedented attack. Disguised as a postman, William 'Basil' Burns came to the journalist's home and hurled sulphuric acid in his face. But Burns then lost control of his knife and was overpowered by Findlay who handed him over to the police. Taking the botched hit as his starting point, Findlay unravels the identity of those suspected of hiring Burns, at the same time giving a unique insight into the criminal landscape of modern Scotland and explaining how journalists risk their safety to expose dangerous and depraved crime bosses....

Venice, 1745—an age of reckless pleasures, playful artifice, and baroque excess. An accident has reduced Tito Amato’s glorious singing voice to a husky croak. A tragedy— but also an opportunity. The once celebrated male soprano is now determined to prove himself as a director. With the theater losing subscribers to a rival company headed by an unscrupulous impresario, San Marco’s Maestro Torani charges Tito with locating the perfect opera to fill the seats in time for the opening of Carnival.Surprisingly, a second-rate composer provides the very thing—an opera so replete with gorgeous melodies the public speculates it was written by the late Antonio Vivaldi. Even more disconcerting are the rumors swirling around Angeletto, a male soprano imported from Naples to sing the lead. Is the singer truly a castrato or a female soprano engaging in a daring but lucrative masquerade?Both matters lead the perplexed Tito into dangerous waters that turn murderous when Maestro Torani undergoes a series of increasingly vicious attacks ending in his death. And Tito is the prime suspect. His own life as well as the future of Teatro San Marco now depend on his skills as a sleuth….   **

Steering clear of military men was Rebecca Carmichael's mantra. Until the night she and air force captain Seth Foster took their pen-pal relationship to the next level. But the mother-to-be never expected the sexy soldier to show up on her Portland doorstep months later with an engagement ring!Convincing Rebecca to marry him had been his mission ever since Seth found out she was having his baby. And it wasn't easy getting the won't-budge-an-inch, terrified-of-loss woman to realize they belonged together. Well, Seth could be just as stubborn--maybe even more so. Which meant using every weapon at his command to get Rebecca to make that leap of faith and trust her future to a man who prized family above all else....

The first in a brand-new series by erotic romance sensation Nicole Camden, featuring sexy magicians and ladies whose desires tempt them ever deeper into a world they don’t quite understand...Billionaire tech genius and inventor Milton Shaw never had life easy. Growing up in the foster system, his only escape was into the world of magic, studying Houdini and perfecting the art of sleight of hand. Too smart to fit in, and isolated from his peers, he vowed that one day he would be so powerful that no one could touch him. Stern doctor Regina Gallows hates nothing more than attention and trickery. In fact, she went into science to feel in control of her world. Yet when her work brings her into contact with the sexy tech superstar Milton Shaw, she finds her body warring with her idealism…and her desires shifting from unlocking the magician’s secrets to unlocking his heart.